Greetings from Baxter’s favorite canine friend, Charlie!
In case you didn’t know, dogs are pack animals. In a pack, there is a pecking order and a hierarchy. Dogs have packs so that each member knows its role. In Charlie’s pack, he is number three in our family of five. I am the pack leader, followed by my daughter Katie, Charlie is next, then my son Robbie, and finally my husband. Charlie is a very good dog, and he has a pretty good relationship with everyone in our house, but this pecking order shows through in his relationships with each of us.
We all take turns feeding Charlie and letting him out to do his dog business. Each of us brushes him and plays with him according to who is available to meet the need. Due to the regular rhythms of life, these tasks begin to fall on certain people at certain times. For instance Robert, my husband, usually feeds Charlie in the evening. Robbie usually plays with him in the afternoon. Nearly every morning, when I wake up, I take Charlie out and then feed him. Now, you might ask, how does Charlie show us our pack order? I’ll tell you. When I wake up, if I don’t feel like jumping out of bed, Charlie waits patiently until I am ready to let him out. He doesn’t bark at me or try to rouse me in the mornings. He waits patiently until I, the alpha dog, am ready to take him out and feed him.
However, if he wants something from another member of the family, nothing can distract him. He barks for attention, he runs to the door, he will even jump in the lap of the person he is expecting service from. He can be a real pain!
We treat each other this way too, don’t we? The status a person holds in our mind determines if we are kind and patient or short-tempered and terse. We may ask nicely or bark orders instead. We act as though we have supreme status, or we may behave as though we had none.
Hierarchy is necessary to the Church for order and harmony. The trouble is when we create pedestals and misappropriate authority.
Pope Francis has many people excited by his criticisms of the Roman Curia and the clergy for power-mongering and being careerists. I applaud the Holy Father for his bravery and candor, but I think that we the laity should take some responsibility here too.
Relationships are not one way streets and people treat each other in the ways that have been shown as appropriate. What I’m saying is that to some extent the laity has given the Curia and clergy permission to behave in these controlling ways.
Think on it for a moment.
Then have you said to yourself, or heard others say, “ That’s Father’s job.” Or, “A lay person can’t do that, a priest should be doing that.” Or again, “I am not as holy as... Father, Sister, or the Bishop.”
While the church is hierarchical by nature, that doesn’t get us off the hook. As baptized Christians, we are anointed as chosen ones. We are anointed as priest, prophet, and king. That means that each and every person in the pew is being called forth by God to participate in the life of the church. This is both our right and responsibility. The holiness of Jesus is not selfcontained. We have been called to participate in that holiness.
Of course, living the Christian life doesn’t mean we’re exempt from mistakes. It does mean that we should be offering ourselves to one another in service. We are to call forth the best of our community to express the fullness of God’s holiness. All of us have a role in that.
I hope that you realize your own holiness and that those around you are holy too. Each of us also has a role in participating at Mass and sharing in the ministry of the church. We should be seeking the best in and for our community.
We are more than dogs in a pack. We are a holy family.
Let’s act like one.
